Register.



A. L-. SOHM.

REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7. 1912.

Patented May16,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

[77/ veniar .fllfred L. 50km r115 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH ,c0., WASHINGTON, D. C.

A. L. SOHM.

REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7. 1 912.

Patented May 16, 1916.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

A. L. SOHM.

REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED 0017. 1912.

Patented May 16, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

THE COLUMBIA PLANUGRAPH ,C0., WASHINGTON, D. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED L. SOHM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MES'NE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SOHM ELECTRIC COMPANY.

REGISTER.

Application filed October '7 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED L. SOHM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registers, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to registers and is particularly applicable to registers of a type used for printing the hour of day and the date. Registers for this purpose have heretofore been constructed with electromagnetic apparatus controlled by a time clock for actuating the register mechanism. It has been a common practice to associate a platen of one kind or another with such registers whereby a she-ct of paper may be brought into engagement through an ink ribbon or otherwise, with type carried on the peripheries of the register wheels, whereby the setup of the register is printed upon the paper. The paper when withdrawn from the printing position is likely to stick to the type on the type wheels and is likely therefore to cause a movement of one or more of the numeral wheels. Any such movement of the numeral wheels is not contemplated in the operation of the mechanism, and if such movement is permissible, the register will be thrown out of step with the master clock, so that in subsequent printing operations it will not print the correct date or hour of the day.

My invention provides a register in which the numeral wheels cannot be thrown out of step with one another, as a result of which the printing of the correct date and hour is assured.

Further objects of my invention are to provide a register of rugged, yet inexpensive construction.

I shall not undertake at this point to state in general terms the features of construction by means of which these objects are obtained, but shall proceed at once to a description of the accompanying drawings, illustrating one embodyment of my invention.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a register constructed in accordance with my invention, and provided with an electromagnetic actuating mechanism, Fig. 2 13 crosse t onal view, taken on line 2- -2 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1916.

Serial No. 724,264.

of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the register proper taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, Fig. at is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line H of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a partial crosssectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 1, Fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 1, Fig. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 88 of *ig. 1, Fig. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 99 of Fig. 1, Fig. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 1010 of Fig. 1, Fig. 11 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 1, Fig. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on line 1212 of Fig. 1, Fig. 13 is a partial crosssectional view taken on line 1313 of Fig. 1, and, Fig. 141 is a detail view of the ratchet wheel and pawls of the register actuating mechanism.

Similar characters of reference are applied to corresponding parts in the several figures.

The mechanism is mounted upon a base plate 20, the register mechanism being supported upon a main spindle 21 and an auxiliary spindle 22, carried in a frame 23, which is fastened to the base plate by the screws 24. The register mechanism, as will subsequently appear, is actuated by a ratchet wheel 25, mounted upon the auxiliary spindle 22. The ratchet wheel in turn is actuted by electro-magnetic mechanism, comprising an electromagnet 26, mounted upon the base plate and adapted to attract the pivoted armature 27. The armature acts through a connecting arm 28 upon a lever 29 which is pivoted to the base plate at 30, and which is connected at its free end with a crank arm 31, the connection being made through the connecting rod 32, as best shown in Fig. 2. The crank arm 31 is pivotally mounted upon the auxiliary register spindle, and is provided with an actuating pawl 33, pivoted as shown in Fig. 12 to one end of the actuating crank. A holding pawl 34: is pivotally mounted upon the extension 35 of the frame 23. A spring finger 36 is fastened at one end to the actuating crank and is arranged at the other end to engage and lift the holding pawl 3i when the actuating pawl is raised as upon the energization of the electromagnet 26. The pawls are arranged to engage the teeth of the ratchet l wheel 25, and serve to advance the ratchet wheel step by step in conformity with the energizations of the electromagnet. The shape of the teeth of the ratchet wheel and of the pawls is best illustrated in Fig. 14.

Upon the energization of the electromagnet the actuating pawl 33 disengages itself from the notch of the ratchet wheel in which it may at the moment lie, and rides up over the end of a tooth of the ratchet wheel to a position where it may drop into the next succeeding notch. Meanwhile the lifting finger 36, raises the holding pawl 34, almost but not quite, out of the notch of the ratchet wheel in which it lies. WVhen the electromagnet is de'e nergized the'actuating crank 31 returns to the normal position shown in Fig. 12. Since the actuating pawl has dropped into the next succeeding notch of the ratchet wheel on its up stroke, the ratchet wheel is advanced one space during the return movement of the crank arm. As best shown in Fig. 14:, the corners of the teeth of the ratchet wheel are slightly beveled as is also the corner of the holding pawl so that the pull of the actuating pawl upon the ratchet wheel will completely disengage the holding pawl from the notch of the ratchet wheel in which it may at the moment rest. The end of the actuating pawl is also beveled in order that it may free itself from the notch of the ratchet wheel in which it lies upon the energization of the electromagnet. When the actuating pawl is raised, as illustrated in i Fig. 1 1, the end of the finger piece engages the downwardly projecting end of the holding pawl. This makes it impossible for the holding pawl to be thrown entirely out of the notch of the ratchet wheel. It is im possible, therefore, for the actuating pawl to cause any backward movement of the ratchet wheel on the upstroke. The result of this ratchet and ratchet wheel construction is to cause the step-by-step advancement of the ratchet wheel in exact conformity with the energizations of the electromagnet and without danger of overthrow or excess movement in either direction.

The ratchet wheel is provided with ten teeth, and in conformity with this arrange ment and that of the register mechanism, the master clock is arranged to close the circuit of the electromagnet momentarily at the end of each minute. As a result, the ratchet wheel is given an advancement of onetenth of a revolution once in each minute. It will be seen that the arrangement of the notches and teeth of the ratchet wheel, and of the engaging surfaces of the actuating pawl and of the holding pawl are such as to lock the ratchet wheel against rotation, except as it may be effected by the actuating pawl, which is under the control of the electromagnet 26.

The general arrangement of the numeral wheels of the date and time stamped register is best illustrated in Fig. 1. The set-up register, as shown in this figure is such as to print Sep. 30, 12:30 A. M. 1912. There is a month wheel, which prints the month, two date wheels, which print the tens and the units corresponding with the day of the month, an hour wheel, which prints the hour of the day, two minute wheels, which print the tens and the units corresponding with the minute of the hour, an A. M. and P. M. wheel which designates whether the hour is in the morning or in the afternoon, and a year wheel, which prints the year. The description which follows will cover the mechanism whereby these various wheels are advanced, step by step, under the control of the actuating ratchet wheel to produce setups, corresponding with the date and the hour.

The actuating ratchet wheel 25 is mounted loosely upon the auxiliary register spindle 22, and is formed integrally with a spur gear 37, which meshes in a 1 to 1 ratio with the spur gear 38, which is formed integrally with the type wheel 39, mounted upon the quill shaft 420, which in turn is mounted to rotate upon the main register spindle 21. The type wheel 39 carries ten equally spaced type, formed to print the ten digits from O to 9, inclusive. This units of minutes wheel 39 is mounted to rotate loosely upon the quill shaft 40. The gear ratios are such that the units of minutes type wheel will be advanced one-tenth of a revolution upon each actuation of the electromagnet 26. A one tooth male Geneva gear 11 is also formed integrally with the actuating ratchet wheel 25. This Genera gear etl is adapted to mesh with a twelve tooth female Geneva gear 42, which is formed integrally with the tens of minutes type wheel 13, this tens of minutes type wheel bearing type as follows: 0 1 2 3 -1 5 0 1 2 3 a 5. It will be apparent that since the one tooth male Geneva gear 41 makes one revolution in ten minutes, the tens of minutes type wheel will be advanced one space at the end of every ten minutes. The result is that the two minutes wheels are actuated to print the minute of the hour.

Obviously the type wheel which prints th hours must be advanced one space at th end of every sixty minutes. The mechanism provided for this purpose comprises a two-tooth male Geneva gear H, formed integrally with the tens of minutes type wheel 43, a twelve tooth female Geneva gear -45, loosely mounted upon the auxiliary register spindle 22, clutch mechanism subsequently to be described which connects the hub 46 of the gear 4C5 with a spur gear 47, which meshes in a l to 1 ratio with a wide tooth spur gear 48, formed integrally with the hour type wheel 49. This hour type wheel like the minutes type wheels is loosely mounted on the quill shaft 40. The hour type wheel bears type as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. The clutch mechanism referred to com prises a flange 50 on the left hand end of the hub 46, two diametrically oppositely placed clutch pins 51 adapted to drop into any pair of 12 equally spaced holes in the left hand face of a one tooth male Geneva gear 52, which is formed integrally with the spur gear 47, there being a hub 53, which connects the Geneva gear 52 with the spur gear 47 to form a single piece. The spring 54 serves to hold the sliding clutch member 53 in the left hand position shown in Fig. 3. The gear ratios are such that the two tooth male Geneva gear 44 will cause the twelve tooth female Genevagear 45 to be advanced one space during each sixth one step advancement of the tens of minutes type wheel. This one step advancement of the carry-over gear will be communicated through the mechanism just described to the hour type wheel 49, whereby the hour type wheel will be advanced at the end of every sixty minutes to print the hour corresponding with the time of day.

The one tooth male Geneva gear 52, which forms a part of the sliding clutch member 53, meshes with a twelve tooth female Geneva gear 55, which is formed integrally with the quill shaft 40. Since the one tooth male Geneva gear 52 is given a one step advancement at the end of each hour, the female Geneva gear 55 will be given an advancement of one-twelfth of a revolution at the end of each twelve hours. The angular position of the carrying tooth of the male ireneva gear 52 is such as to cause a one step advancement of the female Geneva gear 55 at noon, and another advancement at midnight. The A. M. and P. M. type wheel 56 is screwed rigidly to the right hand end of the quill shaft 40 and locked in position by the spanner nut 57. The type A. M. alternate with the type P. M. on the periphery of the wheel 56, there being six type characters of each kind,twelve in all. It will be apparent from the description already given that the register will act automatically to produce printing set-ups, corresponding with the hour and minute and with a character to indicate whether the time is A. M. or P. M.

\Ve come now to the mechanism for operating the type wheels, which print the day of the month. The quill shaft 40 is provided at its extreme left hand end with a six tooth male Geneva gear 58, which meshes with a carry-over member 59 in the shape of a ten tooth female Geneva gear. This female Geneva gear 59 is formed integrally with a spur gear 60 and a one tooth male Geneva gear 61 upon a hub 62, this hub being mounted to rotate upon the auxiliary register spindle 22. The spur gear 60 meshes in a 1 to 1 ratio with the spur gear 63, formed integrally with the units of days type wheel 64. The gear ratios between the Geneva gears 58 and 59 is such that the units of days type wheel will be given a one step ad- 7 vancement at the end of each second twelve hour period 2'. 0. once in twenty-four hours. The type on the periphery on the units of days type wheel are as follows: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. The one tooth male Geneva gear 61 meshes with a twelve tooth female Geneva gear 65, which is formed integrally with the tens of days type wheel 66. This tens of days type wheel is a twelve space wheel, having type arranged as follows: x 1 2 3 x 1 2 3 x 1 2 3, where x represents a blank or absent type. The purpose of the blank is to cause a date such as May 5, 1912, to be written May 5,1912 instead of May 05, 1912, which would be the case if the blank type space were supplied with a type to print 0. The six tooth male Geneva gear 58 receives two one step advancements in twenty-four hours. Every second one step advancement of this male Geneva gear will therefore, cause the carry-over member 60, 59, 61, 62 to receive an advancement of onetenth of a revolution. Each complete revolution of this carry-over member will in turn impart a one step advancement to the tens of days type wheel 66. The result is that the days of the months will be set up consecutively from 1 to 39 inclusive, the positions of the gear teeth being such as to cause the type for turning the date to shift position at midnight.

Since the different months of the year contain different numbers of days, it is not feasible to make the control of the day of the month entirely automatic. WVhen, therefore, the end of a thirty-one day month has been reached, the register will be automatically set to print 32 on the day following,- namely, the first of the next succeeding month. Early in the morning of the first day of the month the attendant will slip a fork-shaped tool over the hub 53 of the sliding clutch member and push this member to the right against the tension of the spring 54. The teeth of the spur gear 48 are wide so that this operation will not throw the gears 47 and 48 out of mesh with one another. The holes in the face of the flange 52 will, however, be withdrawn from the pins 51 and at the same time the one-tooth male Geneva gear cut on the periphery of the flange 52, will be slipped out of mesh with the female Geneva gear 55 and into the blank space 67 to the right of the Geneva gear 55. Regardless when this monthly setting may take place. the driving pins 51 continue in control of the master clock and make whatever advancement may be necessary in conformity with the hour and the minute of the day. When as above described, the sliding clutch member ispushed to the right, the tens of days wheel, the units of days Wheel and the A. M. and P. M. wheel are freed entirely from the control of the master clock and the actuating ratchet wheel, and the hour and minute wheels. The carry-over mechanism, which connects the tens of days wheel, the units of days wheel, and the A. M. and P. M. wheel remains in mesh, however, so that the day Wheels and the A. M. and P. M. wheel remain in operative association with one another even though this group of type Wheels be operatively disassociated from the hour and minute wheels. This disassociation having been effected by sliding the clutch member to the right, the attendant is free to turn the A. M. and P. M. Wheel and with it the tens of days and the units of days Wheels to a position such that the day wheels will print 1 corresponding with the first day of the new month. It is unnecessary to pay particular attention whether the A. M. and P. M. wheel is in a position corresponding with time before or after noon because the sliding clutch member will not return to its normal left hand position unless the driving pins 51 are brought into register with a pair of'diametrically opposite holes in the left hand face of the flange 52, and since the pins advance in conformity with the hour of the day, the clutch member cannot he slipped back into engagement for driving unless the type of the A. M. and P. M. wheel are brought to a printing position corresponding to the time in the respect of its being before or after noon. It is merely necessary, therefore, for the attendant to see to it that the day wheels are turned by hand to a position such that they will print the correct day and to see to it that the clutch members, when freed from the pressure to the right, return to the driving position indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The minutes wheel of the register is locked against turning by virtue of force applied to the periphery of the minutes wheel by virtue of the ratchet wheel and pawls heretofore described. Every other one of the type wheels is locked against rotation in either direction by virtue of force applied to the type Wheel, because of the arrange ment of the Geneva gears, which I have described. This results from the fact that while. a male Geneva gear will drive the associated female Geneva gear, the female Geneva gear cannot drive the male Geneva gear. It will be unnecessary, I think, to amplify this general statement, as to the locking of all of the type wheels in every position which they may assume. The matter can be Verified by considering the result of an effort to rotate any one of the-numeral wheels by means of force applied in either direction to the periphery of the type wheel.

A specific feature of improvement, which I have incorporated into the invention heretofore described, consists in a new form of Geneva gear, in which as illustrated in F ig. 5, for example, I cut out thespace at 7 ordinarily the periphery of a female Geneva gear is cut between notches to conform closely with the circular periphery of, the male Geneva gear, as indicated at 71 in Fig. 5. The clearance between the circular periphery of the male Geneva gear and these closely registering surfaces, such as indicated at 71 is small, or at least limited. If the clearance is small, a very slight accumulation of dirt will cause the gearing to bind and stick. If the clearance is increased to prevent sticking due to slight accumulations of dirt, the lost motion is so greatly increased as to.beco1ne intolerable in mechanism intended for purposes such as that of myinventionr I have found that the spaces between notches on the periphery of the female Geneva gear may be cut out as indicated at in Fig. 5 .without introducing appreciable lost motion. At the same time the spaces between notches are large enough to collect quantities of dirt without binding the periphery of. the associated male Geneva gear. I

. In illustrating my invention I hay e shown the month type wheel 80, which bears type corresponding with abbreviations for the twelve months of the year. This type wheel is loosely mounted to rotate upon the main register spindle 21. It is provided with twelve holes in the left hand face for the reception of the end of the spring plunger 81, this plunger serving to hold the month type wheel in any one of the twelve positions to which it may be turned. At the other end of the main register spindle is loosely mounted the year type wheel 82. The number of years for which type are provided will depend only upon the length of the circumference of the year type wheel and upon the size of the type and the distance between adjacent type. The year wheel, like the month wheel is set by hand, and a. plunger detent 83 is provided to hold the year wheel in the position in which it may be set.

Vhile I have particularly described my invention'as applied to a date and time printing register, it may be applied to mechanisms having other purposes. I do not therefore, wish to be limited to the precise details hereinbefore vdescribed. The scope of my invention is rather to be understood from the followingclaims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

e 1. In a register, the combination of a plurality of numeral wheels, carry-over gearing for carrying-between the several numeral wheels of the register, and means for throwing one part of a double unit of the carry-over gearing out of operative connection with the other to release the numeral wheels between which it is mechanically interposed.

2. In a register, the combination of a plurality of numeral wheels, a carry-over gear mechanically interposed between the several numeral wheels, and a positive clutch mem ber incorporated between two parts of a double carry-over gear, said clutch being releasable to free said parts.

3. In a register, the combination of a pair of character wheels, means to drive one of F said character wheels, a counter-shaft, a

transfer sleeve on said shaft, a driving wheel connecting one of said sleeves to said driven character wheel, transfer means connected to the opposite end of said second character wheel and cooperating with said first transfer means, a clutch between said sleeve and said transfer means, said clutch having a single engaging position with respect to the characters on said second character wheel.

l. In a device of the character described, the combination with a plurality of character wheels, and means for primarily actuating one of said wheels, of carrying mechanism between said wheels and including a multiple element clutch, said pri- Goplea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the marily actuated wheel being positively, mechanically connected with said carrying mechanism, the elements of the clutch being separable and when separated, thereby dis- 1 connecting the carrying mechanism from others of said character wheels, whereby the relation between said primarily actuated wheel and said means always remains the same and adjustment between said wheel and the other wheels is permitted.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a plurality of character wheels, of means for carrying from one wheel to another and including a clutch, said clutch comprising one element geared with one of said wheels and another element normally geared with two of said wheels, said elements being normally interlocked, said element of the clutch which is normally geared with two of said wheels being disengageable from the other element of the clutch and when so disengaged being geared to only one of said pair of wheels.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 5th day of October, A. D. 1912.

ALFRED L. SOHM.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR H. BOETTCI-IER, LEONARD E. BOGUE.

Commissioner of Intent.

Washington, D. 0. 

